Niektóre społeczne i komunikacyjne znaczenia w autonarracjach o porodzie zamieszczonych przez matki w grupach wsparcia na Facebooku – ustalenia wstępne
Some social and communicative meanings in the self-narratives of mothers about childbirth included in Facebook support groups – preliminary findings

Author(s): Aleksandra Nowakowska-Kutra
Subject(s): Media studies, Communication studies, Theory of Communication, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: communication; narratives of mothers about childbirth; support groups
Summary/Abstract: The article presents the preliminary results of research carried out using the participant observation method in Facebook support groups. Social and communicative meanings present in self-narratives of mothers giving birth were examined. The studied narratives about childbirth include biographical, educational, communication and therapeutic functions. It has been shown that they construct motherhood, present visions of the expected, ideal delivery and sometimes painful confrontations with these ideas. It has been proved that birth stories democratize expert knowledge, which has a fundamental importance from the point of view of medical communication, because relationships and positions in the doctor-patient relationship are reconstructed. They are also a tool for creating biographical memory. Importantly, they are a manifestation of the social production of knowledge about childbirth. In addition, childbirth stories participate in negotiating the existing interactive order, leading through the transfer of new social knowledge about childbirth to social change, for example, organizing social movements working to improve the situation of women giving birth in Polish hospitals, observing patient rights, etc. It has been established that for mothers homo narrator allows, among others to obtain respect, confirm identity, transfer knowledge or communicate a message, evoke interest and self-understanding, and often regain subjectivity.

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